The need to understand what works in peacebuilding, how to measure its impact and cost-effectiveness is essential to long-term efforts to prevent violence and build peace. Yet, there is much we collectively do not know about peacebuilding and its overall effectiveness. At a time when the US government and international community’s resources to international development and aid is under strain, the need to understand and invest in the most cost-effective ways to build long-term peace is a key question. The cost-effectiveness of peacebuilding is the degree to which the economics benefits arising from greater levels of peacefulness outweigh the monetary costs engendered by peacebuilding expenditure.

The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) has built a global model of peacebuilding cost-effectiveness that shows increased funding for peacebuilding would be hugely beneficial, not only to peacebuilding outcomes but in terms of the potential economic returns to the global economy. This webinar focused oncurrent research on peacebuilding cost-effectiveness, discussing the approaches, uses, and future research questions for measuring peacebuilding cost-effectiveness.

About the Speaker:

Talia Hagerty is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Economics and Peace, where she works on applied quantitative research for positive peace, citizen security and the economics of peace and conflict, globally and in Latin America. Each year she leads the production of the Mexico Peace Index and produces research and analysis for IEP’s programs throughout Mexico. Talia also lends her thematic and regional expertise to the Global Peace Index, the Global Terrorism Index and IEP’s Economic Value of Peace programs. Talia has a master’s degree in global affairs and peace economics and nearly 10 years of experience working with governments, civil society and the private sector on innovative solutions to reduce violence.